The evolution of a popcorn bowl
Last Christmas my husband made me a garden produce basket with his two bare hands. It was a wonderful gift for many reasons, but the most important one being it meant I could finally retire the garden bowl we’ve been using to bring in the veggies for all these years. The garden bowl is controversial in our family because of its other sketchy uses. It’s truly the most hated bowl in the house.
The garden bowl started as the perfect popcorn bowl many, many years ago: plastic, heavy enough not to tip over and spill, yet lightweight enough to make it easy to hold, taller with tapered sides that can hold a lot of popcorn, and most importantly, 75% off at Target. The perfect bowl.
The day the popcorn bowl changed forever
Then something so heinous happened that changed the trajectory of the popcorn bowl’s main purpose forever. The stomach flu. If you’re part of a big family, you know that if one gets it, you’re probably all getting it, and we did. When the puking started, I reached quickly for a bowl that was plastic, heavy enough not to tip over and spill, yet lightweight enough to make it easy to hold, taller with tapered sides that can hold a lot of something gross. The perfect popcorn bowl became the perfect puke bowl.
The bowl was never used for food ever again, but for the single incident of 2014 when an unknowing babysitter used it for an afternoon snack. But the kids swiftly let her know that no one would be eating a snack from there.
Several years ago, we added a compost bin to our garden. My honey grabbed a plastic bowl that was heavy enough not to tip over and spill, yet lightweight enough to make it easy to hold, taller with tapered sides that can hold a lot of kitchen scraps. The puke bowl became the compost bowl that day. I reluctantly allowed it to be used, though the sight of it made me queasy. But the bowl needed to be washed frequently in the dishwasher, so I finally relented.
The bowl finds a new purpose
However, one day when I was working in the garden, I asked my honey to run inside and get me a bowl for all the cherry tomatoes because the one I had brought with me was overflowing. When he handed me the compost bowl, fresh and clean from the dishwasher, I worried we might have to file for divorce.
I did bring in the tomatoes that day in the bowl out of sheer necessity. As I carried them in, I remembered why this was such a perfect bowl: plastic, heavy enough not to tip over and spill, yet lightweight enough to make it easy to hold, taller with tapered sides that can hold a lot of garden produce.
We have mixed feelings about the bowl to this day. It serves its purpose but has a dark history. We want to enjoy it, but we can’t forget the horrors that bowl has seen. But this new basket means the bowl can be officially retired of its garden duties and can be stashed to the back of the cupboard only to see the light of day when someone is sick.
The Seitz family’s go-to, favorite snack is air-popped popcorn with some variety of M&Ms sprinkled on top, best enjoyed while piling on the couch together binging Arrested Development or Stranger Things on Netflix.
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